"White Like Me" Blog

Tim Wise, an activist and writer, wrote a book reflecting and examining his past as a white man. In his book, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, Wise discussed racism from a self-aware perspective. After using crowdfunding through Kickstarter, Tim Wise was able to turn his book into a documentary. At the time of filming, the United States had already made huge strides in racial equality. The current president during the filming of the documentary was Barrack Obama, an African American. As the country seemed to be very hopeful and ahead of racism, Wise disagrees.

Tim Wise

Wise begins the documentary by going to his childhood, where states that he attended a mostly African American primary school, where he became familiar and friends with people not of his race. Due to his different upbringing compared to his white peers, his time at the primary school gave him a different perspective and fueled his drive for activism. At college, he became heavily involved with activism, including rallying against apartheid in South Africa. While Wise was fighting for equality in another country, he states that he was blind to the privileges that he had been adjusted to throughout his live in his town. 

He lived in New Orleans at the time, where a black man was beaten to death in custody. Although he did not have much of a reaction to this event, it changed when a young African American student asked him what he'd done for his own city. He realized that he had done nothing. He was fighting racism across seas but not in his own city. After this event, Tim Wise decided to become more of an activist than he ever had, leading up to writing a book and becoming a public advocate. 

In the documentary, Wise confronts issues of white privileges and racism. Wise suggested in the documentary that instead of asking "What it's like to be black," one should ask "What's it like to be white?" Looking back on the history of the United States,  many instances and foundations of the county have been based "purely on skin color." There have been many laws and decisions that have been discriminatory towards African Americans and many that have benefited white people. Tim Wise hopes the viewer will think about the influence of their skin color on their lives, and to look at it from another perspective. 

The documentary definitely made me think about how being white has affected my life. I've learned a lot in this class about the fight for equality that I had never known. For schooling, I went to a private K-12 school, which I learned was created during the 50s-60s due to the White Flight. Now at HPU, which is a very costly school, I still see many white people. I'm glad I watched that documentary, as it opened my eyes up to ideas I have never considered before. 

Brunswick Academy